[microsound] 7 points...

[Graham Miller <grahammiller@xxxxxxxxxxxx>]

found this while surfing the web looking for prices for used  
monomachines (i'm thinking of selling mine...).

anyway read the whole thing:

from: http://www.bzangygroink.co.uk/wordpress/archives/2005/12/19/ 
monomachine-vs-walter-benjamin/

1. Even if we accept that a computer can be programmed to perform any  
task, it would be foolish to assume that a computer will always be  
the best tool to perform every task.

2. We are encouraged to think that computers provide the ideal level  
playing field; that they are the ultimate transparent medium, and the  
perfect blank page. This is completely, utterly wrong. In fact, the  
reverse is true.

3. ‘Fidelity’ is a red herring in sound recording. A recording medium  
only ever works tolerably well within certain parameters. You never  
get back exactly what you put in. This applies to digital and  
analogue recording alike.

4a. To talk in terms of ‘better’ or ‘worse’ sound quality entails a  
category mistake. The clue is in the question: there are qualitative  
*differences* between sounds. There is no objective measure of sound  
quality. (The efficiency of a recording device can be measured, in  
terms of frequency response, dynamic range and so on, but that’s not  
the same thing.)

4b. While there are some interesting differences between analogue and  
digital recording media, these are not all that significant. A much  
more striking difference is between a standalone digital recorder and  
a computer-based DAW.

5. A process that requires three decisions to be made will be  
completed more quickly than a process that requires thirty decisions  
to be made. A process that requires three hundred decisions to be  
made may never be completed. Limiting the number of decisions that  
has to be made can therefore be an effective strategy for increasing  
productivity (which is defined as the frequency with which one  
finishes things).

6. Computer software is designed according to what successive  
programmers have assumed is a reasonable or rational way of working.
Their assumptions may have been wrong.

7. Computers are a powerful force for rationalisation. Sometimes  
(e.g. when editing recordings) this is useful. In other  
circumstances, it may not be. Historically, interesting artistic  
results have been produced by people who were using technology The  
Wrong Way. People working exclusively with computers have relatively  
little opportunity to do this.

i don't agree with all of this, but thought it might generate some  
crosstalk.

best,
g.